Abuse of power – The Nation

• FG must rein in its overzealous security chiefs

It sounds incredible but it is true, that a Nigerian journalist had been held in the cell of the Department of State Services (DSS) for two years! The journalist, Mr Jones Abiri, publisher of Weekly Source, a local tabloid based in Bayelsa State, was freed last week by a court. Abiri walked into the warm embrace of his wife and relations, as well as colleagues and leaders of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) who had gathered at the NUJ Secretariat in Yenagoa, the state capital, to receive him. He was arrested in his office and detained at the DSS cell in Yenagoa for seven days before being blindfolded and flown to Abuja where he was kept in an underground cell and denied medical access for the two years.

According to Abiri, “Precisely, l was arrested on July 21, 2016, in my office at about 3:23 pm. About 12 armed men came to my office and they came with a document, a search warrant that my office was under investigation.

“They whisked me away to the state command. I gave my statement and after spending seven days in Yenagoa, they took me to Abuja. Initially, l didn’t know where l was going. My eyes were blindfolded. Since that time, l have not been given the grace and the opportunity to see my wife, my children, sisters, brothers and friends.”

That is not all. “My lawyers were denied access to me. I was in an underground cell, where when the light went off, you would not see the next person. I was also denied medical attention. I thank God that the CLO and other rights organisations took up the matter and today, l am out of detention,” he added.

It is worthy of note that another journalist, Samuel Ogundipe, a reporter with an online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES, had also just regained his freedom after he was detained by the police, ostensibly for writing stories that the police perceived as negative about the Inspector-General of Police.

Abiri’s case is particularly saddening because it was a throwback to what a news medium called “Rafindadi’s chamber of horror”, in reference to the inhuman treatment that Nigerians who found themselves in the DSS cells were subjected to in the days that Ambassador Lawal Rafindadi held sway at the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO) which has transformed to today’s DSS. It is inconceivable that in the 21st Century, our police, secret or regular, would still be behaving as if we are in a banana republic. The law is clear as to how long any Nigerian can be detained without charge.

How could a journalist be detained for two years on account of an omnibus allegation of sending threat messages to some oil majors, demanding money? Or, in the case of Ogundipe, how could he be forced to disclose the source of his information, a matter that the Supreme Court had settled in favour of journalists more than three decades ago?

These two incidents touch on two fundamental principles of human rights and freedom of the press, both of which are guaranteed in the 1999 Constitution. The Federal Government has to rein in some of its overzealous security helmsmen. Their serial infraction of the law is rubbing off negatively on the government’s image. Unless these officials are called to order, the impression would continue to be given that the government is in support of their clearly anachronistic tendencies.

We call for an audit of all persons in DSS cells nationwide because we do not know how many more Nigerians may be languishing in ‘preventive’ detention.

Meanwhile, Messrs Abiri and Ogundipe should seek redress in court for the injustices done to them, to serve as warning to the security agencies that the days of detention with impunity are over. We commend all the non-governmental organisations that kept the journalists’’ cases on the front burner until they regained their freedom.